Let's Toast the New Year With Yuengling.
1. Ageism at Work Isn't Just For Older People Anymore.
We often decry the difficulties faced by older people in the workplace – and we’re not going to stop doing that – but every so often, we are reminded that ageism is a two-way street. And so it is with a new poll from the UK (the poll is actually a month old but it took this long to arrive here via steam ship), that reveals that 93 percent of young people in the UK report experiencing negative treatment at work because of their age. Respondents cite being undervalued because of their age or patronized by older bosses or colleagues as evidence of ageism.?Roughly 70 percent of younger people report missing out on promotion opportunities because of age, and 75 percent believe that they were rejected outright for job opportunities due to ageism.?The consequence of this could be significant, as 25 percent of all respondents aged 16 to 25 told pollsters that they had lost interest in working because of ageism.?
The problem is not limited to the UK.? In 2019, Glassdoor reported that younger workers (52% of ages 18-34)?in the U.S., UK, France,?and Germany are more likely than older employees (39% of ages 55+) to have witnessed or experienced ageism at work. According to Emma Waldman of the Harvard Business Review, age discrimination against younger workers takes many forms, including “More senior or experienced employees overlooking feedback from younger colleagues on projects. Seasoned employees assuming that younger colleagues can’t be trusted with important tasks. Or younger colleagues being the target of stereotypical age assumptions”.?None of this is to minimize the very real challenges faced by older workers in the marketplace – and it is likely that older workers face more grave consequences of being unable to hold or find work because of their age – but to highlight the fact that ageism imposes costs across the life course, not just in later life.??
Shameless Self Promotion #1.
If this little tidbit on ageism in the workplace has sparked your interest in learning more, this is your lucky day. Join us at Century Summit V for the low introductory rate of $0 (it’s also the rate at all other times but that’s not as much fun to say), and tune into our panel titled: “Five Generations in the Workplace”, with Gary Officer, Founder and CEO of CWI Labs; the aforementioned Emma Waldman, Editor for HBR; and Alex Swartsel, Managing Director, Insights at Jobs For the Future (JFF), along with our intrepid moderator, Chris Farrell, Senior Economics Contributor for Marketplace.???
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2. Let's Toast the New Year With Yuengling.
This is the last TNSB of the year, as we are off on our annual fact-finding trip to retirement communities in Florida, and we want to end on a high note: in this case, a special TNSB toast to Margaret Dilullo of Wyomissing, PA, who turned 110 earlier this month. And we’re not going to toast her with some crappy champagne that has been sitting around in a warehouse waiting for the end of the year, but with Yuengling beer, which Dilullo credits for her remarkable good health and longevity.?
It would be crass of us to argue with Ms. Dilullo on such a momentous occasion, but we are somewhat skeptical of the preservative powers of beer. That being said, we do note the occasional study which has credited beer (in small quantities) with enhancing heart health, reducing the risks of diabetes, and even reducing the amount of bacteria that forms on teeth. And besides, we might make an exception for Yuengling anyway, since it is America’s oldest continuously operated brewery, having been founded in 1823, the same year that William Austin Burt patented the typewriter. And Yuengling is nicely bipartisan in that Barack Obama fingered Yuengling as his favorite beer in 2010, and Dick Yuengling endorsed Donald Trump for President in 2016, so there is something for everyone to like, and hate. And what could be more American than that??
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3. And Maybe We Will Be Around to Toast the New Year in 2100.
Americans are notoriously bad at estimating life expectancy, chronically underestimating how long we will live. According to the Stanford Center on Longevity, 2/3rds of pre-retiree men and 1/2 of pre-retiree women underestimate their life expectancy. The inability of Americans to project their life expectancy has all sorts of negative consequences, starting with the inability to plan appropriately for retirement.?
But, as it turns out, not everyone is in the underestimation game, as we were startled to see when we saw a recent LinkedIn poll conducted by Eric Verdin of the Buck Institute.???
The science of aging is progressing rapidly. Based on recent progress, how long do you think you are going to live??
Out of 574 votes...
Ages 81-90: 31%?
Ages 91-100: 37%?
Ages 101-115: 15%?
Ages 115-150: 18%?
It’s not a scientific poll by any stretch of the imagination and certainly is overweighted with longevity enthusiasts given set of people likely to respond to a Buck Institute poll, but it is still notable for either the irrational exuberance of the respondents, or possibly, their insights into coming breakthroughs in longevity. A full third of respondents expect to live past 100 (with 18% expecting to live past 115!), and the group is so enthusiastic that no one objected to not even having the option of dying before 80, in a country in which life expectancy is only 79.???
Some perspective on this is warranted. Life expectancy in the US has been largely stagnant for the last 15 years, rising roughly 1% over that time. But that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been changes in the profile of longevity, as the number of centenarians in the US has increased by roughly 50% over that same period. In the grand scheme of things, the number of centenarians is relatively small (apparently, they all follow Verdin on LinkedIn), but their rapid rise at a time of overall life expectancy stagnation reflects the growth of life expectancy inequities (that’s bad), but also the growing possibilities of longer life (that’s good). It’s all food for thought for the holidays.?
Happy holidays to all, from your friends at TNSB.?